COVID-19

Some Canadian parents are making the trek into Montana to get their young children vaccinated against COVID-19.

There are a little more than 62,000 children younger than 5 years old statewide, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. While Montana health officials expect more vaccines for kids in that age group to be ordered in the coming weeks, demand could be lower compared to older children.

Montana state health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt says the state is ordering vaccines in anticipation of the approval, but didn’t say how many. He says providers could receive the vaccines by June 21, which is the earliest they could be administered following approval.

New cases of COVID-19 have increased in Montana over the last few weeks.

Eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder, are some of the most fatal mental illnesses. Yet treatment options are sparse, particularly in rural states such as Montana.

A year after a new Montana law stripped local health boards of their rulemaking authority, confusion and power struggles are creating a patchwork oversight system that may change how public health is administered long after the pandemic is over.

More than 20 cases of the BA.2 strain of COVID-19 have been reported in Montana since the end of January.

Montana’s governor pushed the state’s health workers to seek religious exemptions to a federal mandate to be vaccinated against covid, but the number who have done so is unknown.

Medical and nursing groups sued last year saying the law jeopardizes their work.

The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council along with the reservation’s incident commander announced this week that masking on the reservation will be optional and that tribal offices will reopen to the public.